


Proposition

by spitshineboi



Category: Antiope/Menalippe - Fandom
Genre: F/F, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:27:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27109501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spitshineboi/pseuds/spitshineboi
Summary: How difficult it is to ask. Marriage proposal.
Relationships: Antiope/Menalippe (Wonder Woman)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	Proposition

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you once again Dr_Hoffmans_Mechanic. You're a great beta reader!

What is a proposition? It’s a question asked, considered, and then answered.

_ As Antiope tossed an apple to her wife she thought of the past. When this act meant so very much to her. Memories flooded through her mind... _

Antiope had been thinking about this for some time. She truly wanted Menalippe in her life forever. Sure, they were partners but she wanted more. She wanted to marry her love but how could she ask? How should she ask?

She thought about this often but mostly when Menalippe was at the temple acting as seer to the Amazon nation. This only really happened once a week but she certainly thought hard during that time. She couldn’t figure out what to say or when to say it. 

She spent time in the library at Olympia and came across an old custom. A man would propose to a woman by throwing an apple to her. If the woman caught the apple they would then get married. Antiope had never heard of this. What should she do and how should she do it? Should she toss the apple or really throw it hard? Did Menalippe have to throw it back? Did they have to keep throwing the damn thing until they got married? That would be a pain in the ass. That would mean that she would have to plan the wedding, invite witnesses, have a feast prepared and ready to go before she even asked Menalippe! Well, that was stupid. 

What if she said no? She’d have to send everyone away, give all the food away, and suffer the embarrassment of having to do this forever IN FRONT OF EVERYBODY! Would Menalippe then move out of their tent and bunk in with the ypolochagoi again? Would she lose her  _ kardiá _ forever then? This was so difficult to think about! They hadn’t had this custom in Colchis where she had initially been raised!

She talked about this custom with her sister. Hippolyta had no idea how to use this knowledge. If Antiope threw an apple at Menalippe would Menalippe know to catch it? Would anyone know what she was doing? The discussions went on for weeks and Antiope never figured out whether Menalippe knew the custom. She had to take a leap of faith and that was very difficult for her. She only truly trusted her sister. She would have to learn to completely trust Menalippe.

As Antiope looked around the camp near Olympia, she tried to figure out how she could learn to trust Menalippe. They had arrived here some years in the past. Here the love that was sparked in Corinth had come to fruition. Their love was strong and involved more than just sex. True, that was there and it was very good too, but they were closer. They talked, laughed, argued, made-up, discussed ancient history and philosophy. They cleaned up after each other and did each other's laundry. They worked well together. They existed well with each other. Face it, they were happy together. She realized that she did trust Menalippe.

Years passed and Antiope did nothing. She never proposed or spoke of marriage. She went years without thinking about it. Their love grew and soon they would never be seen without the other around except for Menalippe’s nights in the temple. Only then were they apart.

Time slowed. Life was good and they were completely happy. Often, yes very often, cries of “Anaki!” and ”Menal!” were heard far from their tent but anyone who heard smiled broadly. Their strategos was happy and passionate with their lochagos. A wonderful thing indeed especially as their queen, Hippolyta, toyed with many as so many did. It was wonderful to see couples together and so passionate with each other. It gave hope to those who yearned for this; it gave solace to those who pined for this.

Of course Antiope never really thought about how any of this mattered to anyone else. She just lived, explored, and loved her life. She loved to fight, to conquer, to win. She enjoyed training and helping those under her to become as strong as they could. She loved planning imaginary martial responses to numerous problems and loved devising various future encounters with the Amazons’ enemies. She worshipped the Goddesses (and sometimes Gods) and prayed for eventual peace. And she fell more in love every day she spent with Menalippe. This, this was the Elysium Fields and all she craved was more of this.

Occasionally she fought with Menalippe. This was devastating, And they argued about such trivial things! Salves and medical tinctures for pain and when to use them (Antiope hated these things but Menalippe didn’t want her to suffer). How strong the wine was (Menalippe liked her wine well watered and sweetened whereas Antiope liked hers strong). Points in history, no, that wasn’t right. Those arguments were fun. They argued about what time of day they should do certain practices in training. Funny, Menalippe was always right about this. It made Antiope furious! Antiope would always go and fight with her other ypolochagois whenever this happened. It helped get her anger under control. Menalippe, on the other hand, got very quiet and would disappear for a time. This worried Antiope to no end. She would run around camp getting more and more frantic as she searched for Menalippe. Once she found Menalippe inside Penthesilea’s small tent sleeping. Antiope was so mad with fear that all she did was run and hold Menalippe, crying when she found her.

Eventually Antiope spoke with her sister again and was accused of overreacting. This made Antiope furious! How dare Hippolyta say this! It certainly wasn’t true, was it? She then dropped into a great depression worried about whether she overthought everything in her life. Sometimes she did (as now) but she was an astute and strong strategos who seemed always to be right in her assessment of the Amazons’ enemies’ weaknesses and strengths. She decided not to talk to Hippolyta about her feelings and worries anymore on this issue, or any other issue. She didn’t want to feel foolish or, worse yet, stupid.

This all was making her crazy! But this time she didn’t want to forget about it for years. She needed to act and act soon otherwise, she felt, she couldn’t go on and must end her relationship because living like this was stupid, very stupid. She felt stupid. No good. Not good at all.

So, she decided to just do it. But she also figured that she would just hedge her bets and make sure that Menalippe would understand. But how? So she thought about that for some time and tried to figure out how to make sure that Menalippe would recognise the gesture. She figured that she would have to let the entire camp learn about this practice. They needed to talk about it. They needed to see how this worked. So she started talking about this odd thing she just heard of, this throwing of an apple. She talked about it with those in caupunas around camp. Well, except for her own. She did this until she heard about it from those who didn’t know she had been the one to start this conversation. This took some time but not as long as she had feared. Penthesilea was sitting with her and Menalippe discussing this in their caupuna. And Menalippe said she KNEW this practice, it was common in the land of her earlier life. 

Antiope smiled inwardly and excused herself from the table feigning “bathroom necessities” (Okay, she said she had to pee damnit) and went to find Dioxippe, the owner of this caupuna. She asked her for an apple and Dioxippe smiled mischievously, then went in and rummaged around in her kitchen before finally returning with a large gloriously ripe red apple. Antiope smiled back at her, thanked her, and went back to her table, obviously after hiding the apple in a fold of her tunic. 

The evening continued and they talked about many different things and finally went home, made love, and went to sleep. The next morning they went to training, as usual, and Antiope did it. She called to Menalippe from across the training ground and when her Menal turned to her expectantly she threw that apple. 

She threw it straight, and quickly at her. It flew fast and hard. Menalippe smiled and caught that apple and walked over to Antiope. They kissed long and passionately until Menalippe said, simply, “Yes.”

And so they were married and remain so until this very day, happy and exploring eternity together, forever.


End file.
